Unveiled: Samsung announces Gear 2 & Gear 2 Neo, ditches Android!

Although the first Samsung Gear was released just 5 months ago, Samsung announced its replacements today, a day ahead of Galaxy S5's release. It makes sense, since the first Gear was half-baked and did not sell well.

Left: Gear 2 Neo.    Right: Gear 2
(Photo by: Samsung)

As speculated earlier, Samsung unveiled 2 models-- Gear 2 and the camera-less Gear 2 Neo. Samsung had also thrown away the "Galaxy" moniker to differentiate them from other Android devices. The new Gear will run on Tizen OS, a linux-based operating system built by Samsung and Intel.

According to Samsung, the new Gears will have 2-3 days battery life (up from 1 day), albeit having a smaller, 300 mAH battery (down from 315 mAH). Samsung also claimed that it will have an "enriched application ecosystem" and changes to its external design. Here are some photos:

Samsung to unveil multiple Galaxy Gear 2 models, might run Tizen OS

The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 24th will unveil the new Galaxy S5 smartphone, which includes a fingerprint sensor and improved LED flash. What else?

Samsung will unveil multiple Gear models

USA Today reported that Samsung will also reveal multiple Galaxy Gear 2 smartwatches. Incredibly, it is reported that the new Gear will run Tizen operating system, not Google's Android. This will prevent Google from tightening its grip on wearable technology, or giving them "too much power".

The Tizen OS is built off a new HTML5, thus prolonging battery life, according to people familiar with the situation. Since its first version failed miserably, expect a massive overhaul of the Galaxy Gear in this 2nd iteration.



Written by: Kheng Wei Ang